Monday, September 18, 2006

Wanted by Jesus: Ramadan Nuke Terrorist

Have you seen me?

Adnan G. El Shukrijumah 2


Today, I received an alarming email from a good friend who is a pastor in Salinas, California. The email was an urgent prayer request that originated from an official in the U.S. government, who sent it to several prayer networks throughout the United States, one of which was Aglow International. Thankfully, the President of Aglow has made the request public, which is how he and then we got it (God bless you Sister Jane Hansen for making this available). According to the request for prayer:

Osama bin Laden has assigned a man named Adan Al Shukri Juma to carry out a new attack within the US which is intended to be larger than the September 11 attacks. Explosives and nuclear materials have been smuggled into the US through the Mexican border over the last two years and are hiding in a location that the FBI has not been able to discover.

After I got over the initial shock and disbelief, I went immediately to Aglow's international website to verify the prayer request, and there it was on the front page. From there, I went to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List but did not find the man identified as "Adan Al Shukri Juma." Then I noticed the Seeking Terrorism Info Page and there he was, but with his name spelled:

Adnan G. El Shukrijumah

Whatever the spelling of his name, every detail thus mentioned lends some credibility that people in our government are very concerned about this man and the threat he poses to perhaps millions of Americans.

Now before people start rushing to conclusions about the veracity of this request and claims, please consider a few points. First, as mentioned in our previous post Wrestling with Angels, Osama bin Laden recently received permission to kill 10 million Americans. Second, other al Qaeda chiefs such as Ayman al-Zawahiri and American-born "Azzam al Amriki" have warned Americans of dire consequences if they do not convert to Islam. Third, it is no secret that al Qaeda has acquired nuclear weapons.

What's more unbelievable to me is not anything in this prayer request, it's the absolute blindness of most Americans to the threat that surrounds us. It's as if I am watching the first three episodes of Star Wars, where Palpatine slowly takes over the entire galaxy. Meanwhile people are just bickering over wiretaps, amnesty for illegal immigrants, how there was no WMD in Iraq, and my personal favorite, September 11th conspiracy theories. Wait a minute that wasn't in the movie...

but it might as well have been.

The fact is that it may be too late for wiretaps, border security, WMD in Iraq, and conspiracy theories. Despite every effort to protect us and wage war against a nuclear-equipped enemy, somebody in government has finally realized that our only hope is in prayer.

Help us Jesus, you're our only hope

Rub your eyes and get some Starbucks people!

Now for those who are awake with me, the first natural reactions such as fear and hate need to be squelched. Secondary reactions, what I call "reflexive prayer requests," also need to be squelched. These prayer requests call for the success of our law enforcement agencies, for our enemies to be scattered, and for them to be thrown into confusion. The Lord knows I have prayed these same prayers over the course of this past year. Although, they are well intentioned prayers, I think we have been missing out on the larger will of God and some untapped power. Here is what I think we've been missing in our prayers:

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9)

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16)

What are the methods and weapons of our enemies? They want to invite us to Islam? They have nukes? I am here to tell you that we have methods and weapons so powerful that they can make a terrorist stand fast in his tracks. Ours are more powerful than any suitcase-sized nuclear weapon. They have more accuracy and precision than any smart munition.

The methods and weapons in our arsenal are prayer and the good news of Jesus Christ. And here's something else people might not want to hear: Jesus died for every terrorist who is in the United States and is scheming against us as we speak. It's not my will that they come to salvation. It's God's. It's not for me to have unforgiveness in my heart. If so, God guarantees that I'll be judged for that. It's not by any man's power that we can prevent the unpreventable, because it's

"'not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6)

Feelings like hate and fear have no place in our hearts right now. Apathy and lethargy have no place in our minds right now. We have the power in our hands and knees to make a difference. As I have said before, if you don't think it's possible that a terrorist can come to the Lord, look at Saul of Tarsus. It's too late for anything else. It's time to pray.

There is a man right now, who is plotting to set off something so horrendous that if it were to come to fruition it would shock the world. Something that will make the September 11th attacks pale in comparison. He's wanted by the FBI, but more than you or I will ever know, he's wanted by Jesus, the Prince of Peace and the author and finisher of our faith.

Please join me as I pray for the salvation of one man that may hold millions of American lives in his hands. Pray that he like so many of his fellow Muslims will see the Lord in vision, dream, or visitation. Pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit to come upon him. Pray for his soul as if it were your own. Pray that he will repent of his murderous ways. Please, I beg you pray for Adnan or Adan al Shukrijumah.

Adnan G. El Shukrijumah 1

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Monday, September 11, 2006

Michael and the Angel

Michael David is our little worshipper. For instance, he will often encourage you to sing along with him as he sings praise and worship songs that he has heard at church or on the radio. If Martha or I am singing a song, he'll put aside what he's doing and join in. When I would practice at home on the guitar, he'd run and grab his brother's toy guitar and accompany me. He was the favorite little brother of our ministry kids in Hollister, especially during worship practice. It was often hard to pull him off the drums, and even harder to get our young drummers to let him down. So there he would remain glowing and wide-eyed on their laps while we practiced.

These days, Michael leads our family bedtime prayers. He cues each of us to say our turn in the prayers. When he prays he often does so for the geckos in our house or for his Star Wars toys. Lord knows they need prayer the way the boys play with them, but occasionally he'll pray some surprisingly deep requests for one of us or his neighborhood mates. It's one of the cutest things I have ever heard or seen, and I'm sure it is not lost to God either.

To date, most of the supernatural experiences we have experienced in the home have involved our oldest, Danny Boy. It seems that the Lord works with him in the prophetic. He's been a witness to several encounters in the home and has had encounters of his own. He's interacted with the Lord Jesus twice in dreams. But God has shown us that Michael also has a special place in our ministry.

The Lord demonstrated this to me one night in 2005 while I was in prayer. We had been under spiritual attack while ministering in our home to, of all people, Mormon missionaries. We had felt a heavy oppression on all sides during our eight-week long fellowship with them. There was a war going in our home in the supernatural as we attempted to share the truth of the Bible and its only prophet worth following, Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Acts 3:22).

After crying out to God for divine favor and protection, I discerned a word from the Lord for our family. One by one He called us out by name declaring "I am with you." But when He got to Michael, He changed His name. God doesn't call Michael by his first name. He knows him as "David," his middle name.

As I type this on September 11th 2006, I finally realize what God was doing when He changed his name. We have never made a huge deal about this experience and have only shared it with a few of our pastor friends (all named David) and our parents. But now as I think about his penchant for worship and his heart for God, the name "David" describes him to a tee. God must have known this all along. On another occasion He proved it to me and Martha.

It was a Saturday, sometime during the early Spring of 2005. At the time, we were living on military housing in beautiful Monterey. Having the weekend off from watch, Martha and I finally had some time for yard work. I had sat down on the sofa with my laptop as she was finishing up tending to her plants in the backyard. Danny Boy was busy playing across the street at his friend's house while Michael was curled up next to me playing with one of his toys.

I was busy coming up with fliers for our next sectional youth ministries event. While plugging away, I was soothed by the sounds of Martha spraying water outside and Michael tinkering with his toy. Although I was not fully engaged with his playing, I knew he was quite involved with his toy because he was adding his own sound effects.

After a couple minutes, the sounds around me began to dim somewhat as I delved more into the work on the screen in front of me. It took me a little while to realize that Michael was not making the same sound effects anymore, but was making other sounds. As I typed a little more, I overheard him giggling. Smiling at his giggles I continued with my design work dragging my mouse around without looking at him, thinking that he was giggling at Martha.

But, then I heard Martha through the window behind me restarting the hose in the back porch and I realized that I had not heard her come in through the sliding door. All the while, Michael was still giggling. At that moment, I stopped what I was doing and looked over to him. He had dropped his toy into his lap and was staring ahead with the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face. I was still looking at him when he let out another volley of laughter.

Quickly I looked over my laptop screen to see who or what he was looking at. He was looking in the direction of our stairwell. Not seeing anything I looked back at Michael. In the split second that I was turning my head back to Michael I saw a cloud of light streak from the stairwell. I quickly looked back but did not see anything more.

I then did a double-take to Michael. He was still wearing that smile on his face and looking in the direction of the stairwell. His smile wore off and then he turned to look at me. He shared a brief knowing grin with me and then straight with picked up his toy and continued his playing. Chills ran down my spine as I realized that he had been laughing with an angel on the stairwell.

I looked back but did not see anything after staring for several moments. I sat there with my laptop burning into my pant legs not able to do anymore work. I saved my work and powered down. I was putting away my gear when Martha came in and walked through the house to call Danny Boy in for dinner. I did not get a chance to stop her. I decided to save it for dinner.

Over dinner, I was excited to share with Martha and Danny Boy what Michael and I had seen together. Martha sat smiling as she fed Michael. She said, "you're not going to believe this, but I had the same experience with Michael earlier today." "Really!" I almost jumped out of my chair.

She said that she had been sitting on the sofa doing something while Michael was at her feet playing with his toy. All of a sudden, she realized that Michael had stopped playing and was giggling at something. She thought he was looking up at me. When she looked up to see what he was looking at, she saw a a figure in the form of a cloud standing at the base of the stairwell. No sooner had she perceived what it was, that it vanished. She looked back at Michael, who then looked at her briefly and then continued his playing.

Now, of course Monterey can get a bit foggy and often times the low clouds get bright as they reflect the morning sun, but not in the middle of your house at the bottom of a stairwell late in the afternoon! The experience could have been relegated to our collective imagination if for one fact, Martha and I both were expecting to see each other as the object of Michael's stare and giggles.

Sure, he could have imagined something and projected the reality to our consciousness somehow through some self-fulfilling prophecy or mind-control. The only problem with that hypothesis is that we are talking about a one-and-a-half year old, who stopped playing with his toy to engage in socialization with something that apparently was making him laugh. Furthermore, Martha and I had almost the same experience, a couple hours apart without sharing what we saw until dinner time. Another point worthy of mentioning is that up until that point Martha had never seen an angel and she is not given to sensationalism or flights of fancy. She's about the most genuine and non-flakiest person I have ever known.

I used to wonder what Jesus meant when He said "see that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:10). Now thanks to Michael and the Angel, I know that God is not looking down so much as He is smiling at eye level with all the little ones in the world right now. Bad things may happen to them in this world, but it does not change the fact that God is taking notes from their angels. Maybe the brightness of their eyes and the resonance of their laughter has a lot to do with the little bit of glory that is brought to them from Heaven.

Today, as I close, I thought about all the children who are orphans, including those who lost a parent on September 11th, 2001. I believe God put it in my heart to share Michael's story because it's their story as well. Despite what grown ups may think, God is with them and He knows them by name. Please join me in prayer for orphans and little ones everywhere who are forgotten not by God but by man. Let's pray that they will receive God's blessings from our hearts and our hands.

Amen.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Wrestling with Angels

the angel of terror


Just days before the 5-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks on America, I am sobered by the belief that the threat we face from the spiritual forces that were behind those attacks are maneuvering once again to unleash something far more horrendous in the days, weeks, or months to come. At the moment it is not a matter of if but when. Whether they succeed, however, in large part depends on the actions or inactions of the American church.

The terrorists attacks that day and since have shown us is that there are no answers in the natural to prevent them. Sure, governments of man can stop a few here and there, but what the world is facing goes beyond the schemes of countless thousands thirsty for American blood. What I am talking about are millions of fallen hosts that are massing to manifest in these countless thousands.

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12)

It's not enough to pray for divine protection from their upraised hand. It's not enough to pray for our success in the battlefield. It's not enough to pray that they are exposed. Although these are worthy prayers, they are "bandaid" prayers in the face of the artery that is about to explode. There are only two prayers we should be praying right now as if our country depended upon them, as if the lives of our families depended upon them: 1. Repentance for our nation and 2. The salvation of those who threaten us. These prayers emanate from the very heart and will of God. Why not pray accordingly? It's our only hope! This is the wrestling match we must join. If not, let's just throw our hand up before the referee yells "Ready, go!."

"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)

To give you just a picture of the threat I provide the following brief synopsis of news bits and an expose film:

It is no secret that Osama Bin Laden has received recent permission from clerics in Saudi Arabia to kill up to ten million Americans. Before you think this is funny, Osama was actually rebuked by Muslim clerics worldwide not because he was behind the 9/11 attacks but because he hadn't given Americans the proper warnings ahead of time. Apparently, this time he has learned his lesson - bad Osama. Just pause and think for a couple minutes. Imagine ten million Americans dead in a single day. Wake up people! This is not a joke. Read the writing on the wall: TEN MILLION AMERICANS DEAD.

It is no secret that countries like Iran and Al Qaida operatives, like Californian-born "Azzam the American," have extended invitations to join Islam or face certain grave consequences. This is no publicity stunt. This is exactly what the Koran teaches to do before all "jihad breaks loose." This is yet another prelude to mass murder on a national scale. To their credit, if I may say that, they are following their doctrines to a tee. They have made the invitation so if we balk it, they have fulfilled their end and will have the justification to strike with their sword.

It is no secret that Iran and Al Qaida have already acquired several nuclear weapons. This is their sword of choice and they are just waiting for the right opportunity to use them. If you believe that they don't have these weapons or won't use them, then I have some Iranian nuclear waste buckets to sell you. I must return to the close of my first paragraph: TEN MILLION AMERICANS DEAD.

It is no secret that there are sleeper terrorist cells here in America, who have been training for years here in America for the day that they can wage jihad here in America. They even have permission to kill children and even other Muslims here in America. If you think I am using scare tactics, may I remind of you the Beslan schoolhouse massacre? Do you think it can't happen here in America? May I ask a rhetorical question? Where did the 19 terrorists of the September 11th attacks train? Where did they strike? The answer should be clear - here in America.

Before I move on to the expose film that I believe every American should watch, allow me to return to the wrestling match of this new century. Imagine with me the night of September 10th 2001. All 19 hijackers, are in their hotel rooms trying to get sleep the night before their infamous mission. What would have happened if on that same night millions of American Christians were awakened to intercede for them, yes that's right intercede for them, not just damn them to hell.

Do you think a terrorist is worth praying for? Do you think he or she is beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit's conviction? Do you think they are beyond the hope of Jesus appearing to them? Well, let's just ask these questions to Saul of Tarsus when we get to heaven. On second thought, you might have a hard time finding him, because he has a new name and, to be cliche, it's written down in glory. His new name also happens to be written on almost two thirds of the New Testament.

Church, this is our only hope. Everything else is vanity. Will you tarry just one hour? This is exactly what I am talking about. The message of the Gospel is for every man and we are the messengers of this message. In this sense, we are angels. To not engage in prayer for our enemies is to wrestle against ourselves!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

We the American church, are the last defense for our country. Dear Jesus, if only our newspapers could read tomorrow: TEN MILLION MUSLIMS ACCEPT JESUS. Sound far fetched? Well let's just ask the entire village of Bugia in Algeria who had the same dream of Jesus on the same night in which He declared His lordship in exactly the same manner. Is anything too difficult for God?

Please join me as we turn the invitation of the terrorists around and use the only effective weapon in our arsenal. The only weapon powerful enough to shake the earth. Let's stop kicking the goads and wrestle the real enemies. Let's intercede repentance for our nation and for the salvation of souls, especially the souls of Muslims in America.

"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." (Acts 4:31)

Now for the expose film, which I must apologize has subtitles and is fairly long at 1 hour and 17 minutes. Notwithstanding these detractors, it is well worth watching and your time. Obsession Radical Islam's War Against the West is set to come out on DVD on the anniversary of September 11th. I pray that its release date is not too late, and that's why I have placed the video here, not to scare the church but to do what I can to awaken her in the midnight hour to pray.

Please let me make one thing clear. I do not hate Muslims. I love them with the love of the Lord. To the Muslims of the world: "Jesus loves you and died for you. He is the man in white who calls to you. Find Him today."